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In the midst of the smoking land that used to be the Harbor, one particular pony sighs at the construction carnage. Blackbird watches a pair of unicorns levitate boards into place while a team of earth ponies stomp nails to hold it all together.

"You know, one of these days we should change it up to stone," Blackbird suggests, helpfully, but the nearest unicorn rolls his eyes at him.

"You say that every time."

"And I mean it every time!" The local schoolteacher rubs a hoof on the back of his neck. "I mean, it could easily cut down on our rebuilding costs, not to mention the number of times we'd have to do so."

The unicorns have had this argument before, so many times, and they have other things to focus on anyway, like not dropping planks on little old grannies. So they don't reply. But one of the earth ponies is new around here, and he looks up. "Number of times? This happens often?"

The town has become a playground for Fidget. A mess she didn't make, and in turn doesnt' have to clean up? Its a dream come true! The young pegasus mare along with a few local fillies and colts are playing tag in the rubble that was once the port, well most of the town really. The general disarray they cause running about and getting in the reconstruction efforts are minor, and are easily made up by all the smiles she seems to be bringing the kids. Not to mention they have to go somewhere now that there is no school. Though ten ponies leaping into the middle of the school and messing things up with a game of tag might not be what Blackbird wanted.

Rusty-Gears trots down the… well… it used to be a road. Now it hardly mattered, did it? And she'd /just finished/ setting up her workshop, too. Now they'd have to rebuild the whole thing… ah well, it gave her a chance to make some… improvements? Well, she thought they'd be.

She wore a saddleback packed full of tools and gizmos she'd managed to save. She was, currently, looking for a place to settle in and do some work. Honestly, there wasn't much she /had/ salvaged, which might be attributed to the rather SPECTACULAR explosion that had eminated from the shop in the midst of all the fires and such. An explosion she certainly couldn't explain! Not at all. Nope. Surely she hadn't been storing /that/ amount of giant explosive materials.

Blackbird isn't exactly helping with the effort — maybe in part because most of his inventions were also blown to pieces, and physical labor is not his strong suit. So he does what he /can/ do, and that's trail after the loping gaggle of younguns. "Hey! Kids! Stay out of the wreckage before something goes wrong!" He makes a face of frustration, trying to pick up speed to catch up since they appear to be ignoring him — and why wouldn't they? Chaos! Run rampant! — and that's when he runs straight into Rusty, bowling her over and tripping head over hooves.

Fidget is just giggling like a mad pony, dispite both Blackbird's and his unicorn assistants complaints. "Everypony ponypile on Mr. Blackbird!" it seems the pegasus mare has learned to heard squirrels, because on her command they all pause in their rhough housing and make a beline straight for the Invetor/Teacher. A whole lot of foals tackle into the adult pony wile Fidget lands ontop making it a large group hug. This katamari ball of ponys might just even pick up Rusty if she is unlucky enough.

Rusty-Gears yelps in surprise as she is yanked out of her thoughts by being suddenly tackled over… and then again as suddenly flood of smallponies. She squirmed uselessly, trying to get out from beneath them.

One pony, two pony, three pony, four! Rusty finds herself at the bottom of a prodigiously peppy pony pile, although one in particular — that is, the long-suffering professor — is perhaps less peppy than the squirming mass of giggling pegasi. "Sorry— sorry, miss," he grunts, squirming and trying as well to get out from under, and give Rusty some breathing room. "Fidget? Is that you up there? Of course it is. I should have guessed." Of course, he's fond of all his students, even the troublesome ringleaders. (Maybe because he, himself, was a troublesome ringleader in the past too. But that is neither here nor there!) "Mind calling off your dogs?" he chuckles.

All of the foals laugh madly squiming themselves to get out of the pile, breaking up and continuing on their rampage elsewere. Fidget how ever stays, "Hi Professer Prissy Pony!" the mare waves happily to Blackbird, before sitting her plot down on the ground and turning to look at the broken building, "So what happened? I woke up and everything was busted? I couldn't have done this one, unless I can wreck things in my sleep now … -Er right! Hey kids I think Salty needs you to yell really loud outside his window right now, I hear he had a bender last night and screaming is good for hangovers!" she smiles evily at the foals and they all scream out one huge 'YAY!' before running off. "Better?"

Rusty-Gears finally manages to squirm her way out of the ponypile, snorting and trying — and failing — to dust herself off. "Well that was an eventful hello."

Blackbird manages to scramble to some semblance of standing, and he chuckles a little. "Yes, that's better. Oof. Thanks, there, kiddo. Ah — miss, I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

Sitting one moment, hovering around the two inventors like a satalite the next, wings buzzing like a pony sized hummingbird as she does so. "So? So? How did the town blow up? Did Salty really get into a wid bender the other night? Because that is going to be epic funny I bet we will her her scream from here when the foals get there." giggling into a hoof trying to restrain herself. "Oh high Rusty! I never did find the … what was I looking for when I left last time? I forgot." giving a shurg with her wings, which you really can't do when your flying and causes her to fall back to earth.

Rusty-Gears drags herself to her hooves and gives herself a firm shake, resulting in dust and little spatters of oil and some black powder that was /not/ dust POOFing around her for a second. "Oh, fine, fine, no harm done." She bent to pick up the tools that had scattered from her bag. "'eely sh'da 'ee u omin', wit' e'ery'in all aat," she continued around a wrench held in her mouth, twisting around to drop it in the saddlebag.

Blackbird rubs his head thoughtfully. "Where did you even learn the word bender? … Nevermind, stupid question. No, not really. Have you seen all the ponies getting sick around here lately, with their talents going haywire? Yeah, the mayor caught it too." He stifles a laugh when Fidget thumps to the ground, then hurries to help Rusty pick up the bits and bobs she's dropped. "Oh!" He lifts a screwdriver. "'o you 'ake 'ings?"

Rusty-Gears blinks and nods, smiling a bit. "Yep! Bit of a mechanic, me. Machinist, I like to say. Make 'em, fix 'em, invent 'em and put 'em together. You know. Bit of everything."

"For a pony named Bender in Appleusa~" The ex-weather mare says in a sing song tone as she trots around the two of you instead of flies. Walking saves butts from falling! "Wait? There is a curse that makes talents go haywire? Ooooh I wonder what it would do with mine?" trotting being too mainstream she has converted to bouncing now. "How do you catch it?" noticing what the others are doing she starts to push the tools together in a pile with her nose.

Blackbird facehoofs at Fidget's response, and shakes his head. "Well, you /can't/ anymore, because it's been cured! All the ponies have had the antidote, so you can't get cursed anymore. Sorry Fidge! That nightmare won't be coming to fruition." And thank goodness, he thinks. Yeep. His interest piques, though, in Rusty's response. "Really? I'm an inventor! Sort of a chemist, but I tinker, too. I made a whirlygig. I'd offer to show you but, uh, it exploded with everything else."

Rusty-Gears brightens, ears perking. "Oh? Whirlygig, huh? Sounds interesting! Pity everything blew. I've had some big explosions in my day, but…" she whistled, shaking her head. "That was impressive, even for me! Not that I was working on anything that could've exploded at the time." 'Cause this one was most definitely /not/ her fault, for once!

"Awwww ponyfeathers." Fidget kicks at the ground, acsedently kicking one of the tools and sending it into the pile of ruble. "I bet it would have given me some kinda super power or someth'en." scratching her chin with a hoof as she thinks of all the posibliites. "Inventers? Geez between you two and Sparks I am starting to think all inventions just explode. Though I guess really thats half the fun. You could have at least saved the exploding whirly-thing for when I was here I have been trying to -er I mean *cough*"

Blackbird chuckles. "Yeah it was pretty, er… well, I guess not exactly run of the mill here, but we'll call it the upper echelons of normal." He trots over and leans a hoof on Fidget's head. "I'm Blackbird, by the way. I'm the teacher round these parts. And this is one of my students. And just /what/ where you 'trying to', Fidge?"

Rusty-Gears looks after the flung tool for a moment, tilting an ear as she pondered if it were worth going after… or better to just lie low and look unrelated incase somepony just got smacked by flying metal object from the sky.

Fidget almost tips over as Blackbird rests against her, a moment of flailing in protest she gives up and manages to stay still for a moment. The moment is agony on a pony who hates staying still. "I er-um" shifty eyes are given as she tries to find a good excuse. "I certenly haven't been trying to rig it to fall apart wile whirlling and gigging. nope. That woudl be silly. Why would you think that?" smooth! Got away with it for sure. Waving happily as she is introduced. "Thats Rusty-something." since she didn'y introduce herself.

Blackbird blinks. And blinks again. "Hey wait a minute… are you the reason it went haywire on me last week?" His brows knit for a moment, but he gets distracted when, indeed, a pegasus rises from the rubble with an irritable look. "Hey! Watch it!" he calls up to the pegasus fluttering above with tool kit in tow. Said pegasus looks confused.

"Gears," she fills in for the 'something', unable to hold back a faint giggle at the tool-involved scene. She glanced back at them. "Friends call me Rusty. If I had friends 'round these parts, anyways."

"It wor-? I mean. *cough* No course not Birdy." Released at last from being leaned oh Fidget whips into the air, assending high before going back to pony level. "I'm your freind Rusty…" it is true she was calling you Rusty before you even mentioned thats what your friends call you. "Erp! I forgot I have to go drop some flower on-er off someplace! See you guys later!"

"Fidget! That almost hurt someone! FIDGET!" But off the hummingpony goes, leaving Blackbird stomping a hoof. "Dang little mischief-maker," he grumps, before he looks back at Rusty. "Rusty, huh? Pleased to meetcha. It's a relief to see more tinkerers around here, honestly! Are you new around here then?" He pauses to pick up another tool and drop it helpfully into her pack.

Rusty-Gears smiles over at him. "Yep! Just came in on a ship a couple weeks ago. Place looked interesting so I figured I'd stick around for a bit." She glanced around again, ears laying back slightly. "'Course, I expected it to, y'know… be a /town/ a little longer."

Blackbird lets out a bit of a laugh, ears cocking. "Oh, yeah, well. It does that from time to time. Let's see, that makes it…" He pauses, looking up at the sky in thought. "About a season and a half? No, two seasons. Somewhere between there, since it burnt down last. Maybe more like a whole year since it burnt down to /this/ degree, though. Usually it's only about half the town. It's okay, you get used to it. Start storing your more volatile ingredients in stone safes and you'll be good." He grins at her.

Rusty-Gears chuckles, rubbing the back of her head with one hoof. "Yeah, I… sorta… learned that." Boom. Just… BOOM. "Gonna have to order more… stuff."

"Well, there's a griffon colony not far from here, and they've got some great parts. And there's an express carrier that will deliver the chemical stuff from Manehattan. I can give you the names of my suppliers, if you want." Blackbird shrugs. "You got a place to stay? I think they've almost got the doc's office rebuilt. That's usually where they start letting ponies stay. Or the farms out east, they've usually got room. The farms are probably the oldest buildings out here."

Rusty-Gears shakes her head. "Nope, noplace yet. Somepony told me we're all just sorta pitching tents. Ran by the hospital tent but figured I shouldn't stay… pretty full already." She glanced down at a bandaged around one hind leg; nothing serious, just a bit of a burn. 'Cause, y'know, BOOM and all that. She'd certainly had worse. "So I salvaged what I could and figured I'd kinda play it by ear from there."

Blackbird frowns a little, as he spots that bandage, the white pony canting his head. There's a little concern there, but being familiar with BOOM, not a whole lot. She's clearly standing just fine, and breathing and talking and all that. "Ah, yeah. Well I'm staying in one of the main tents in town with " He pauses, and blinks. " with — Oh, jeez, what time is it?" He glances up at the setting sun. "Have you seen a zebra filly around?"

Rusty-Gears blinks. "Zebra filly? Well, I don't think I spotted one in that gaggle of youngsters earlier… think I might'a noticed a zebra, they usually stand out a bit."

Blackbird's ears flick back. "Oh, yeah, they do, yeah. Shoot. Uhhh, hey want to tag along while I look for her? You said you didn't have friends yet. You're welcome to, uh, stick around… /Horseapples./ I totally spaced." Glancing again at the sunset, he runs a hoof into his mane, mussing his hair. "I'm supposed to be watching this little zebra filly. She's an orphan and I'm trying to find her parents, and she went to play with her friends /hours/ ago."

Rusty-Gears blinks and smiles. "Well, that's real nice of you. Sure, I'll help you look. I like foals." Well, usually. "They probably just got distracted by something, you know how fillies can be… I was /everywhere/ when I was a little pony."

"Yeah, you and me both," Blackbird admits with a little embarrassed laugh. "I was an /enormous/ troublemaker as a foal." He tilts his head toward the town and starts trotting that way. "Let's poke around here. Maybe they're playing in the rubble like the other ponies were. We're… a little casual about our town destruction here, aren't we?"

"Speak for yourself," mutters one of the worker ponies, as they pass.
Rusty-Gears giggles. "Well, gotta keep the spirits up somehow!" she pointed out cheerily, braided tail flicking as she trotted after him. "Sounds like this might happen often enough that you gotta be kinda cavalier about it."

"That's what I think!" Blackbird agrees, with a nod. "I mean, if it's coming around this often, you have to stick to the bright side. Otherwise it's just… needless destruction." He pauses, and adds, "And on the double bright side, no visits from the Bone Mistress this time."